Authorities in North Dakota are investigating a fire on Wednesday that destroyed a church that was recently purchased by a white supremacist.

The building that was once known as Zion Lutheran Church in Nome, North Dakota, was destroyed at approximately 4:25pm, according to KXMB-TV.

Nome lies about 70 miles southwest of Fargo.

The deed to the building indicates that partial ownership belonged to Craig Cobb.

Cobb has a history of buying up property with the aim of turning entire areas into enclaves of white supremacists.

Authorities in North Dakota are investigating a fire on Wednesday that destroyed a church that was recently purchased by a white supremacist

The deed to the building indicates that partial ownership belonged to Craig Cobb (above). Cobb has a history of buying up property with the aim of turning entire areas into enclaves of white supremacists

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cobb is 'an itinerant' neo-Nazi who has been a member of a number of racist organizations over decades.

In 2014, Cobb was sentenced to four years of probation for terrorizing residents of Leith, North Dakoa, where he tried unsuccessfully to establish an all-white enclave.

He moved to Leith more than four years ago, bought a house and 12 other lots, and encouraged other white supremacists to join him to create a voting majority in the community of about two dozen residents.